An Almost Vacation
by Georgina1326
Summary: Daisy convinces Booth, Brennan, and the Hodges clan to go on a vacation with her and Lance, but can the gang ever really get away from work? And is there an alternate motive for Daisy wanting them all out here? Multi-Chapter, set in current season.
1. The Proposition

Dr. Brennan sat across from Daisy and eyed her intern wearily as she talked.

Booth looked pleadingly at Sweets, telepathically begging the young psychologist to shut his girlfriend up. Lance shrugged. Daisy had this bug up her but since last week there was no stopping her.

She'd found out he was meeting Booth and Bones for lunch and literally begged to come to The Royal Diner with him. She'd even said she'd pay. He had consented of course, there was something about her annoying charm that always got to him.

When he tuned back into the conversation he found that she had finally gotten to the point.

"So Lance and I wanted to know if you two wanted to go camping with us. And I know you're pregnant but it's not real camping it's a cabin on the lake and it would only be a 30 minute drive to the nearest hospital and probably less if Booth brought the FBI car with the lights and the sirens." She took one of her trademark deep breaths after her long run on sentences and smiled.

"While a vacation doesn't sound like a bad idea," Booth tried to find a delicate way to say he didn't want to go. Temperance cut him off.

"A vacation with you would hardly be a vacation, Ms. Wick!" Typical, Brennan had no tact. Sweets had seen this coming a mile away, it was the main reason he had tried to dissuade Daisy from even asking. He should have had more faith in Daisy's ever optimistic mind set and inability to interpret negative remarks, however.

"I know that hanging out with people from work can make it seem like you never left but since we're a couple and now you're a couple I thought –"

"That wasn't what I meant at all. What I'm saying is –"

"What Bones is trying to say, Daisy," Booth cut her off giving her the same look that he always gave her when she was about to do or say something that would be considered socially unacceptable. She shrugged and went back to her French fries. "is that don't you two want your privacy? There are bound to be things you want to do that you might not want us to see…or hear…eh?"

"No," Daisy smiled, ever perky and violently shook her head, "It won't be an issue, Lance's grandfather owns the property and there are five cabins. We'd be, like, 2 miles away by sunset. It's in the heart of Appalachia and Lance said the lake should be frozen solid by now, we could skate and build snow men and really bond as a team! Oh, maybe Angela and Hodgins would like to come and then it would be all the couples! Angela and Hodgins with the baby and you two with the baby on the way and Lancelot and I just trying to make one!" she cuddled up to Lance who shifted awkwardly at the comment. "Although not literally," she corrected herself.

"Yeah," Sweets thought inwardly rolling his eyes, "that was the part that was making me uncomfortable, not the open mention of us having sex." Daisy was more socially awkward then Brennan sometimes.

"Alright, Ms. Wick," Bones smirked, "If Angela and Hodges agree to go, so will I"

"And if she agrees to go, I have to," Booth smiled, noting that Bones was somewhat more conniving then he gave her credit for. Angela and Hodges would never agree to go out into the woods with those two. They were totally safe.


	2. She Thought Wrong

"A vacation sounds nice," Angela smiled.

"You cannot seriously be considering this!" Booth eyed her from across the table at The Founding Fathers.

"Why not?" she shrugged. "We don't have to even sleep in the same house. It'll be like we're neighbors for a week."

"Neighbors with you guys, I wouldn't mind, but Daisy and Sweets…eh?" he gestured to imply the impending doom that sat snuggled to her sometimes fiancé at the end of the bar.

"I'll admit that Daisy isn't my favorite of the squinterns," Hodges shrugged, "But she is, supposedly, using this time to work on her dissertation so she will stay a bit quieter and we really all could use a vacation. If we all leave, it'll give the others a reason to take a break too. Cam needs to step away from that autopsy table and when was the last time you two had a vacation?"

"We –" Temperance started.

"Don't even think about mentioning the pigmies and Afghanistan, honey," Angela cut her off. "We went to Paris and drank wine, that's a vacation, what you two did was work."

"We went to my High School reunion," Bones nodded.

"And Vegas not to long ago," Booth added.

"And you traveled with the circus, and went to London, but again – all work." Hodges raised an eyebrow.

"London wasn't all work…" Brennan said solemnly, slowly realizing that Angela was right. She hadn't taken a vacation that wasn't anthropology related, forensic or otherwise in quite some time.

"No?" Angela asked, "As I recall you solved two murders and other than that, lectured at Scotland Yard and Oxford. Sure sounds like work to me, just work in a different place. You will need to learn how to take a vacation once the baby comes. You aren't dragging her to Peru to study Aztec bones till she's at least two. Plus I want to go because the scenes in the Appalachians this time of year should make for some beautiful paintings."

"Fine," Booth said, finally defeated.

"We'll all go," Brennan sighed.

"But when this all goes horribly, we warned you." Booth pointed to them with the neck of his bottle and took another swig. "Call them over and give them the good news."

Hodges motioned for Lance and Daisy. She frolicked over, dragging Sweets behind her.

"We're going!" He smiled.

Daisy literally jumped up and down. "Yay! This is going to be soooo much fun!"

"Oh," Booth said leaning back in his chair, "Barrels and barrels…"


	3. Getting There is Half the Battle

It was a three and a half hour drive from D.C. to cabins, and it was snowing heavily once they reached the foot hills. They had taken Booth's SUV and Daisy's tracker though, so snow wasn't an issue. The Hodges family was in the back seat with Brennan and Booth. Michael had been a very pleasant baby the entire way.

"I hope Katy is as calm in a car as Michael," Brennan sighed looking back lovingly at little Hodges in the car seat. Booth saw her out of the corner of his eye and smiled. Motherhood had really opened her up to feeling actual human emotion. Of course, she'd been subtly improving since Max had come back into her life, but pregnancy had made her truly human.

"Well, the movement of the car and the low wooshing is supposed to soothe them," Angela imparted. "It reminds them of the womb."

"That didn't help Parker when he was colicky," Booth shrugged from behind the wheel. "About the only thing you could do was ride around on the merry-go-round with him strapped to your chest. That would soothe him somehow. He still loves that thing, actually."

The tracker took the next exit and the little group followed. Suddenly they found themselves on some little state route and Booth kicked it into 4-wheel-drive. There was another hour on this little road to the middle of nowhere.

"Are you sure Cam did a thorough background check on Daisy and even Sweets?" Hodges asked, "Because this is starting to seem like we're heading somewhere to be killed."

Booth's phone rang and Brennan answered it. "Okay," she said and hung up.

"Sweet's says there's a town store about a half-a-mile away on our right where we're going to stop for supplies." She told Booth and their companions.

"Did you hear that Michael?" Angela said to her son, "We're going to go to a general store!"

"General store?" Hodges laughed, "It's not 1920, I'm sure it's more like a QuickyMart then a ma and pa joint."

Chapter 4: Famous Last Words


	4. Famous Last Words

_A/N: By far the longest chapter thus far. It just kept going. Almost as many words as the others combined. Anyway, I'd like to add an additional disclaimer other then the one that's implied...I do not own nor am I affiliated with Disney in anyway. I feel like they're the types who'll come after you..._

_Now on with Chapter 4_

"I…was so…wrong!" Hodges gaped at the general store. It was, in fact, a true general store and was even named 'Ma n' Pa's Necessity Store' "All that's missing is the alcoholic on the front porch with a banjo!" He leapt out of the car with Michael. Angela had bundled her son up so well he looked like a giant blue marshmallow in his father's arms.

"Well, he'd probably be here if it weren't as cold as Antarctica!" Angela said, wrapping her coat around her tightly as Booth helped Brennan out of the car. "Maybe he'll be inside with his banjo, let's go find out!"

The snow had stopped as the group trudged into the little store. Hodges assumed it was Ma behind the register and Pa was stocking some dry goods. "Look, it's a 40lb. sack of potatoes!" He quietly hissed to his wife.

"Actually, we could probably use that, it would feed us all week," she raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, Lance!" the lady behind the counter cooed and came around to hug Sweets. He returned the embrace.

"Hi, Aunt Helen," he smiled.

"Henry!" The older lady shouted back to her husband, "Lance is here with his friends, get your head out of the flour! Are you all headed to the cabins? Oh who is this handsome little man?" Helen was suddenly smitten by Michael. "Oh and one on the way!" she drew a dumbfounded Bones into an embrace.

"Your aunt is very friendly, Sweets." She laughed awkwardly as the lady released her from the bear hug.

"What provisions do you kids need?" Henry asked, finally ambling up to the little group.

"Pretty much everything food related," Sweets smiled, "But let me introduce everyone, than we can shop. Everyone," he gestured to the D.C. team, "this is my Aunt Helen and Uncle Henry," he gestured to the older couple. "Uncle Henry and Aunt Helen, this is my girlfriend Daisy Wick, her boss and my coworker, Dr. Temperance Brennan, her partner at work and at home, Seeley Booth, and their good friends and coworkers Dr. Jack Hodges and his wife Angela Montenegro and their son Michael."

They all exchanged handshakes and spoke the requisite pleasantries expected of such situations. Sweets and Daisy talked with Henry while Helen helped Angela get Michael out of a few layers and the others perused the small grocery store.

"Ange wants the 40 lb. bag of potatoes, apparently." Hodges said pushing a small cart.

"Bones needs ice cream, cookie dough and Macaroni and Cheese now, because I'm not sure where we could even get it if she gets a craving at 4am." Booth smiled.

Temperance shrugged. Most people would have probably noted that he was teasing, but, as usual, she found it to be sound reasoning. "We should probably get bread and butter pickles, peanut butter and bread as well. I've wanted that recently. I've been getting it at Peanut Butter and Company at lunch every day."

"It's like they designed that sandwich for pregnant women," Hodges cringed.

"I assure you, it's quite delicious. I feel I would still think that without the pregnancy hormone; I would more than likely not eat it every day, however," she shrugged and stuck her necessities in the cart.

"We're going to need meat. Some of us are not vegetarian," Booth said.

"I thought for sure you'd be all hunter gatherer on this vacation and bag us some venison!" Hodges scoffed.

"Not allowed," he answered, eyeing his significant other, "I can eat the meat but hunting it down and killing it is across the line…Even though, anthropologically speaking it is in my very fabric to want to go hunt for food to feed my family."

"And anthropologically speaking," Bones said in a tone that could have almost been mocking, "The deer's herd is almost as tight and important as a human family unit, each one serves a purpose and help raise the young."

"Not the stags," Hodges smiled, "as far as I'm concerned their dead beat dads! Come to mate and then go off and stand on cliffs while Bambi's mother gets shot. And everybody knows that bullet was meant for one of them."

"I don't know what that means." Bones looked at him. Her lack of any pop culture knowledge still baffled them all sometimes.

"It's a Disney movie, Bones…We'll watch it when Katy is older." Booth said.

"I don't know if I'm comfortable exposing her to a movie where the father isn't around and the mother is shot and killed…how is that a children's movie?"

"I don't know," Hodges laughed, "Disney told the story through cute little woodland creatures in a cartoon and suddenly it was acceptable for children to see, but when you actually break the plot line down like that it does sound kind of awful."

The others joined them, finally and they loaded up with cart with 'provisions' and went to pay.

"Oh you all don't owe us anything!" Aunt Helen smiled, holding Michael. "I got to spend time with this little gentleman and the way Lance tells it you're like his second family!"

"Well, thank you Helen, put we really need to give you something for all this," Angela said putting all of her son's layers back on while Helen held him. "I mean it wasn't free for you and I can't imagine you all mark it up to much for your local clientele."

"No, but we charge the tourists a lot more to make up for it!" Henry hooted with laughter.

"Well, what would it be if we weren't with Sweets and we'll split the difference between that and free," Hodges smiled.

"Probably about $250," Sweets answered for his relatives.

"So here's $125," Hodges said handing Helen the money as Angela took their son from her.

The men loaded the cars and they finished the rest of the drive in about 45 minutes. Bones and Booth both mentally noted the sign toward the hospital about 15 miles from the turn off onto the private driveway to the cabins. While she was only just into month eight and had explained numerous times that it was really month 10 before a baby was born, both were far to hyper vigilant to not pay attention to details like that.

About a mile up the gravel drive, they came to a lake with five tiny cabins surrounding it. They lake was completely frozen over already and snow covered the ground.

"You were right, Ange," Brennan said. "This will make for a beautiful painting."


	5. Dear Horatio, I knew him well

_A/N For those of you who know Shakespeare, the chapter title implies that this is about to take a more anthropological turn. _

_Also super ario pointed out what I refer to as my crime drama dyslexia that I have been calling Hodgins, Hodges, who is in fact the trace guy from CSI (I really do experience this particular name confusion on a pretty regular basis. When I started this story, I thought about double checking on imdb, but I had just watched Bones so I was fairly sure I was right…) It will be corrected from here on out, in the first four chapters just replace it in your mind._

"Maybe I can get some writing done while we're out her," Bones said as he carried the one light weight toiletries bag and her laptop and Booth heaved their two larger suitcases out of the car. They were in the center cabin between the other two couples.

Brennan searched for the key in her purse and unlocked the door, swinging it open for to enter with his heavy load.

"I understand that you didn't want me carrying one, but you didn't have to carry them both at once." She said, rolling her eyes. "You've obviously already proven your virility to me," she gestured to her stomach.

"Every once in awhile," Booth smiled walking over to her and taking her bags and setting them on the counter, "a man needs to prove it again!" He grabbed her and drew her into a kiss.

She laughed when they broke, "Start a fire and you can prove it to me all you want once we're warm. Although, if you're like this all week than I might not get any writing done."

"Not all week, I brought ice skates for everyone. Got in their files and found out their shoe sizes. I want to play girl on boy hockey. We'll play two on two at a time, so someone can watch Michael, Maybe couple vs. couple hockey…that'd be fun." He smiled throwing some wood into the fireplace and starting to ready it to be lit.

Bones laughed, rolling one of the larger suitcases toward the bedroom. "None of us can really even skate but you, You aren't going to get a very good game out of anyone."

"Speak for yourself!" Hodgins said from the doorway. "I was on the peewee hockey team!" He started bringing in the food while Booth started the fire. They had decided that they would just use the middle cabin's kitchen except for their individual snacks and breakfast needs. They were stuck out here in the middle of nowhere together; they might as well bond during lunch and dinner. As Ms. Wick had said, it was like summer camp, only in the winter and with adults.

"See!" Booth said, "Maybe Hodgins and I will just play one on one then!" he nodded vigorously.

"I've seen you play, dude," Jack laughed, "You're still going to easily kick my ass." Booth shrugged. Sweets also appeared in the doorway.

"Is everything ok?" Lance asked, "Everyone good with the accommodations?"

"It's lovely, Sweets." Angela said coming in behind him with Daisy holding Michael.

"Yes, it's very peaceful here," Brennan emerged from the bed room. "I'm looking forward to getting some writing done and enjoying some evenings by a real fireplace."

"Good," He smiled.

"These cabins are beautifully designed, Sweets." Angela marveled. The door opened onto the great room which was a kitchen on the right, a mud room on the left and the living room was in the middle with a fireplace against the wall with a door on either side. The door on the left led to the bedroom, and the one on the right to the batch, which also had an entry way from the bedroom.

"Yes," Brennan agreed, "did you notice that the fireplace is also open to the bedroom?"

"Yeah, it's genius." Angela nodded.

"Thanks," Sweets smiled, "My grandfather actually designed these. You see that sort of fireplace more and more again lately, but it was a pretty abandoned concept when he put them in."

"It was a common practice in frontier housing; a central fireplace warmed the whole house." Daisy said.

"We need to get our fires started." Hodgins looked at Sweets, "You girls want to put the food away while the men collect some firewood?" He smiled sweetly at Ange who rolled her eyes.

The men left and Daisy handed Michael off the Dr. Brennan and started helping Angela put stuff away. Bones started taking off some of Michael's many layers and talking to him about how warm he must be.

"She's going to make a great mom," Angela commented to Daisy while watching Bones. "Even though she talks to him like he's an adult, there's such love in her voice."

"Yes," Daisy nodded, "I agree. She will make an excellent mother."

"BONES!" the girls heard Booth yell. Brennan leapt up with Michael in her arms and handed him off to his mother on her way out the door.

"What?" She asked making her way to the wood pile where Hodgins, Sweets and Booth stood motionless, staring.

"I'm pretty sure it's human." He said stepping back to reveal a skull.


	6. Trivial Pursuit

_A/N Sorry this is a short one, I've been trying to write a chapter a night, but I closed tonight and open tomorrow at work. I might rework this later. Right now though, is bed time..._

"It is," Brennan sighed. Would she ever get a vacation that didn't involve anthropology? She stepped closer to the skull. It definitely looked like it was the only bone in the wood pile."It almost looks like someone placed it there to be found."

She carefully removed the bone to take a closer look. "Well, this looks like some type of blunt force trauma." She said as she pointed out the crack in the back of the skull. Taking a closer look however, she retracted that statement. "No, that occurred post mortem. I don't know, it looks like a very old bone. Were there any cemeteries around here that some kid could have found this in and hidden it amongst the wood to be found?"

Everyone looked to Sweets for the answer. Daisy emerged from the cabin and joined the group.

"Well, not on record but that doesn't mean there weren't." He answered. "This is a popular place for college kids to come to over winter break and in the summer. I could see one of them finding that and putting it in the wood pile to scare his buddies."

"Ironic that he didn't get a scream from his friends and it stayed until the best forensic anthropologist in the world came to find it," Hodgins smirked.

"I can't know without the rest of the body, but honestly there is no sign of foul play on the skull." Bones stated. "Perhaps I will look for the rest of this person after we unpack. Maybe Angela can reconstruct the face and we can search to see if it's a missing person or if there is a record of their death."

"Should we actually use this wood, though?" Sweets asked.

"We probably shouldn't until some of the questions have been answered." Booth said, "Let's go find some more and leave the skull with the professionals."

The men began to head off into the woods and the two anthropologists took the skull inside to the only one of them who might be able to shed some light on this mystery.

"I know we're on vacation, but can you possibly put a face on this, Ange?" Brennan asked.

"Oh, eh, was that what all the yelling was about?" she frowned.

"Yes," Brennan said unpacking her computer and setting up the satellite link. "I'm going to google search for missing people in the area.

"Did you know," Daisy started, "That the number of missing people in the US alone has been steadily on the rise since the 80's? It's mostly due to the social acceptance of certain groups and the socialist movements for equality of all human life. Just because you're homeless or crazy or a prostitute doesn't mean it doesn't matter when you go missing anymore."

"Sometimes," Angela smirked sadly, "You remind me of Vincent with your trivia, Daisy."


	7. Lifesaver

_A/N Sorry guys, I had a busy week and some writer's block, for the life of me I couldn't figure out what turn this story needed to take to keep it plausible…so, after a long car ride it dawned on me, and here we are…_

Brennan glanced at Angela, working with her modeling clay, while she unpacked. That clay had come along to serve a much different purpose than putting a face on a random skull, but what can you do? Daisy sat by the fire playing with Michael.

"Where are the guys I wonder?" Daisy remarked, "It's been almost 45 minutes. We're surrounded by woods; it can't be that hard to find some for a fire."

"Well, if Booth wasn't with them, all sorts of things could have gone wrong; but an army ranger wouldn't have let them get lost, caught in a tree, or get crushed by a branch that they couldn't carry." Angela shrugged. "I'm not too worried."

"Booth is like that one person that you don't have to worry when someone is with him." Daisy nodded.

"He shielded Zach from an explosion, saved Hodges…twice now? Saved my life more times than I can count," Bones looked up thoughtfully. "I think we might be able to accurately say that Booth has saved everyone's life at some point."

"With all the serial killers and bombers he's arrested with the FBI and people he took out for the army, that statement could very well be more accurate than we know," Angela stated. "He truly could have saved _everyone's _life at some point. He's like a superhero, saving the universe."

Just then the men walked in.

"Lancelot!" Daisy cheered, "Where have you been?"

"We got the fires started in the other cabins." Sweets laughed. "we didn't figure you'd want to go back to them cold."

"Alright, Honey, grab our son and I'll take the skull and we'll get settled in," Angela smiled, carefully packing up her supplies and gently carrying the skull out the door as Hodges through a blanket over Michael and followed.

Sweets offered his arm and Daisy bounded to him and they too took their leave.

Bones sat down on the couch and motioned for Booth to join her. "Angela said you were a superhero," she smirked.

Booth flashed his smile that he always did when paid a compliment. It always made Brennan remember that that the "Cocky" belt buckle wasn't just innuendo, it was in fact true. She chuckled a bit.

"I am a superhero!" He smiled. "Remember, I'm Clarke Kent, and you're Wonder Woman."

"If you had really been Superman, that bullet would not have penetrated your epidermis when it bounced off my wrist band." Bones smirked.

"You know what, Bones, stop thinking about this logically," he laughed and lunged at her, enveloping her in his arms as they kissed.


	8. Pillow Talk

_A/N: Ok, the holiday's were a little over whelming, my family just finished up Christmas on New Years Eve, and work is trying to kill me. I've had this chapter half done for about 3 weeks, so I finished it...Hopefully it won't be as long next time, but again, work is still trying to kill me, so if it is bare with and the update will eventually come._

"My belly is getting to a point where it's in the way of intercourse." Bones said with a pout after their morning exercise.

"Doesn't matter," Booth said, kissing her forehead, "It's beautiful, because I know that Katy is in there and she's going to be beautiful."

"Even when she kicks you?" Brennan smirked.

"Especially when she kicks me," Booth laughed getting out of bed and heading for the kitchen to make breakfast. "Oh, I forgot to tell you last night, but when we were out getting new firewood I looked for signs of recent disturbance and couldn't find any evidence. Although the fresh snowfall means that it was a pretty useless thing to do anyway."

"From the skull, I would say it's been buried a long time." Bones said grabbing a robe and following him to start the coffee. She'd brought her brew-bot along because since she'd been pregnant it had been perfect for making her a cup of decaf and Booth a cup of regular of a morning. "I would say the spring thaw unearthed it at some point and the theory of kids and pranks then came into play. I would just like to know if it is a missing person or someone who was buried legitimately."

"How old was it?" he asked cracking the eggs into the hot skillet.

"Well, it was probably buried sometime between 30-45 years ago. Old enough that it could have still been buried in a small family plot on some property around here, but young enough that we could still find a missing person's report if it existed." She shrugged. "Without the Jeffersonian's equipment, I really can't be any more accurate."

"Well, until Angela finishes with the reconstruction, I vote we enjoy our vacation. There are plenty of bones waiting back in Washington." Booth put some bacon in the heating skillet and started cracking eggs for the omelet.

"Knock, knock, vacay buddies!" Angela called as she entered the unlocked cabin and froze.

Booth screamed and ran naked back to the bed room. Angela stood smirking in the den.

"Well, honey," Angela said to Brennan with a laugh, "guess I don't need a peek at that photograph you have after all."

Bones couldn't help but smile.


End file.
